As I revise and expand “The Anarchist’s Design Book,” I’m also examining the pieces I built for it five years ago to see if I can learn anything to improve them.

The Boarded Tool Chest in Chapter 15 is one design I was worried about. When I make a tool chest, I dovetail the ever-loving snot out of it. The boarded tool chest, however, is all rabbets, nails and glue – like a cheap kitchen drawer.

But I built it on a leap of faith. In February 2015 I saw Jonathan Fisher’s tool chest at the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine. It had survived 200 years and was in good shape – no major repairs or loose joints. Plus, I had come to really appreciate the holding power of cut nails and Roman nails. After making some test joints, I tried to take them apart and ended up destroying the wood before the fastener would give up.

The Fisher tool chest at the Farnsworth Art Museum in 2015.

The chest shown here is one of about five or six boarded tool chests I made. I kept this one to use as a site box as we remodeled the storefront in Covington. For the first three years of its life, it held carpentry tools and was battered endlessly as I dragged it around the first floor and machine room. (Eventually I added nice casters that I’d scavenged from another chest.)

Now the chest holds tools for students and still sees some bumps and bruises. It also serves as a sawbench, a stool and a way for short people to reach things in high places.

Honestly, I have no problems with how the chest has worked. The corner rabbets are as tight as the day I made them with hide glue and rosehead nails. The tills – also nailed – still move smoothly and nothing has come loose. The pine top has remained flat thanks to the oak battens on the underside.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a dovetailed tool chest. But for home woodworkers who might not have the time for such a complex project, building it with roseheads, rabbets and glue is a sound alternative. Just make sure your joints are tight, you use the right nail, your pilot holes aren’t too big or too deep, and you size the end grain of the joint before assembly.

33 Responses to Boarded Tool Chest After 50 Months of Abuse

I love my plywood ATC (made based on your DVD). I it is as strong as a Sherman tank will no doubt outlast me by several generations. That said, I still can’t take my eyes off the dovetailed version and won’t be satisfied until I make one.

Believe me, I get that. I want to build a new tool chest just so I can make all the tiny changes and improvements I’ve learned about/developed during the last nine years or so. But who has time for that?

Thank you very much for the answer (and for the question.) I had the same interrogation. I do have he book though but forgot about it since I don’t use that technic often. Can you use that technic with any kind of glue or hide glue (for an example : Titebond? And yes i will buy real one , one day) .

Why doesn’t this chest have a front dust protection piece on the top? The battens should be fine for the sides, but there’s nothing on the front edge? Were you just trying to duplicate the Fisher chest exactly?

Weren’t some of these old boarded chests just butt joined? Rabbets sure add a lot of strength by preventing racking movements. Would be interesting to see how a simple butt joined chest would fair over time. The last pic of your post, Fisher’s trademark?

That would be a shipping crate. My experience is that is fine for something being dragged around a shop. However, any box that spends a lot of time bouncing around in a truck is doomed to shake loose. Caveat is that the boxes constantly in transit used ring nails, not cut/roman nails. Just one anonymous troll’s take on nailed up boxes. 🙂

My one of these chests is one of my favourite possessions. I made it on the fantastic course taught by Chris at Bridgewater college back in 2015. This course was a fantastic bargain that kick started me to change careers and was charged a reduced fee for young students which was very generous. I’ve since retrained as a joiner and work in a workshop making kitchens, furniture and many other things. This tool chest is used every day and is nocked into and moved around etc and has worked perfectly. It’s the right size to accommodate all the tools I use daily and I enjoy sitting on it to eat my lunch at the bench (with castors attached it’s the perfect height). I’m sure it will be with me for the rest of my career (probably another 40 year’s) and will always remind me of where I started out.

My one of these chests is one of my favourite possessions. I made it on the fantastic course taught by Chris at Bridgewater college back in 2015. This course was a fantastic bargain that kick started me to change careers and was charged a reduced fee for young students which was very generous. I’ve since retrained as a joiner and work in a workshop making kitchens, furniture and many other things. This tool chest is used every day and is nocked into and moved around etc and has worked perfectly. It’s the right size to accommodate all the tools I use daily and I enjoy sitting on it to eat my lunch at the bench (with castors attached it’s the perfect height). I’m sure it will be with me for the rest of my career (probably another 40 year’s) and will always remind me of where I started out.